A blog about patent, copyright and trademark law in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York

Court Dismisses Patent Infringement Action for Lack of Standing

In an April 28, 2015 ruling, Judge Colleen McMahon found that the plaintiff in a patent infringement action lacked standing because of a defect in the patent’s chain of title. The plaintiff’s title to the patent depended upon a transfer from the plaintiff’s wholly-owned subsidiary to the plaintiff. The Court found that not such transfer had taken place. Judge McMahon wrote that there had not been an express assignment, and that the plaintiff had not acquired the patent automatically upon the plaintiff’s filing of a certificate of dissolution for the subsidiary. According to the Court, the mere filing of the certificate does not cause the transfer, which happens only upon the filing of a plan of dissolution within three years of the filing of the initial certificate.
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